This post brings you up-to-date on recent developments regarding the MV Realty scam. Attorney Joseph Karp alerted the Florida Attorney General to the scam when he discovered that an elderly client had signed what he considered to be an unconscionable contract. He has provided assistance to the Attorney General as it prosecutes the case. View a 2023 CBS 12 interview with Attorney Karp about the case here.
Background
From 2018 t0 2022, MV Realty used deceptive tactics to get vulnerable Florida homeowners to sign exploitative sales contracts. The contract, a “Homeowners Benefit Agreement,” offered a homeowner between $300 and $5,000 in exchange for giving MV Realty the exclusive right to sell the home for 40 years. Once the contract was signed, the company filed a memorandum in the county the homeowner resided in, effectively putting a lien on the property and clouding the title. Under the terms of the agreement, the homeowner, the homeowner’s estate or heirs had to pay 3% of the home’s value if they wished to terminate the contract. Over 9,000 Florida homeowners were bamboozled.
Once Mr. Karp alerted the Florida Attorney General to the scam, the state moved swiftly. The state legislature passed statute 475.279, which went into effect July 1, 2023. You can read the legislation here. The law prohibits anyone from using the homeowners agreement to place a lien on or otherwise encumber any residential real property, and prohibits the courts from enforcing such liens.
However, the statute left two problems still unresolved:
- First, it did not invalidate any agreements signed before the law went into effect on July 1, 2023.
- Second, it did not provide restitution for those who had already paid MV Realty 3% to clear the title on their homes and terminate the contract.
Florida Court Now Invalidates All Homeowner Benefit Agreements
On February 13, 2025 Florida’s 13th Judicial Circuit Court issued a permanent injunction against MV Realty, invalidating all homeowner benefit agreements signed on any date and prohibiting MV Realty from collecting any fees. The Florida Attorney General’s office emailed Attorney Karp the news and thanked him for his assistance, writing:
Dear Mr. and Ms. Karp,
I just wanted to let you know that the Court just entered an injunction. Here’s a summary.
MV Realty is a Florida real estate broker that preys upon financially vulnerable homeowners. MV Realty and its masterminds, Antony Mitchell, Amanda Zachman and David Manchester, developed a telemarketing scam that ensnared over 9,000 Florida homeowners into a deceptive 40-year contract with a steep termination fee. The contract also encumbered homeowners’ property titles like a lien.
The Office of the Attorney General obtained a permanent injunction against MV Realty and its masterminds prohibiting enforcement of all Florida Homeowner Benefit Agreements.
MV Realty shall not collect any early termination fees pursuant to the Homeowner Benefit Agreements.
MV Realty and its masterminds must provide notice to consumers who executed a Homeowner Benefit Agreement that the agreements are unenforceable and that the consumers are no longer bound by the contracts.
MV Realty must terminate the publicly filed memoranda that acts like a lien for all Florida consumers within 14 days, or 2 days for a refi or closing, upon request.
The next step will be for us to recover restitution and penalties. Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention, and for providing a declaration in our case.
Thanks,
Ellen K. Lyons, Special Counsel, Assistant Attorney General
Consumer Protection Division
Office of the Attorney General, State of Florida
3507 E. Frontage Road, Suite 325, Tampa, FL 33607
Read the injunction here.
More Action Needed
As the Special Counsel’s email notes, there is still the matter of getting restitution for homeowners who have already paid the 3% penalty to MV Realty.
If you signed a Homeowners Benefit Agreement and have already paid a termination fee, but have not yet alerted the Attorney General to your circumstances, you should do so now. File a complaint with the Florida Attorney General by clicking here.
Keep checking this blog for more developments in this case.
